EXCLUSIVE: Love Island 2017 star Gabby Allen reflects on her dating journey and admits she let red flags go as she searches for love on Celebs Go Dating
Gabby Allen was 25 when she shot to fame on Love Island back in 2017. Almost 10 years later she’s looking for love on TV again – and thanks to Celebs Go Dating she has finally figured out where she’s been going wrong.
“I get blindsided by lust,” Gabby admits. “I really like fancying people so I let the red flags go. I just seem to ignore them. Chemistry and being super attracted to somebody is very important to me.”
Gabby is taking part in the new series of Celebs Go Dating alongside Loose Woman Coleen Nolan, rapper Professor Green, MAFS Australia ’s Lucinda Light, content creator PK Humble, Celebrity Big Brother star David Potts and ex-rugby star James Haskell. United in their search for love, the celebrities are guided through their dates by TV therapists Anna Williamson, Paul Carrick Brunson and sexpert Dr Tara Suwinyattichaiporn.
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Examining her dating past on the show, fitness entrepreneur Gabby, 34, realises she discounts a lot of men. “I found out pretty soon that I have a narrow-minded perspective of what it is I’m looking for,” reveals Gabby. “I am still single at 34, so obviously I’m doing something wrong if I’m not in a relationship yet. It definitely opened my eyes to look at potential other prospects, but I still think I very much know what I want.”
Gabby realised she almost exclusively dates younger men and decided to switch things up on the show.
“I only ever really attract younger guys, so I thought maybe I should date older guys,” she says. “You’ll see as the show goes on there’s a range of younger and older guys, then I realise it doesn’t come down to age, it’s about whether you’re aligned on certain things. Age is just a number, so young fellas are still on the cards!”
With her fitness empire and TV endeavours, Gabby has a great career, enviable lifestyle and buzzing social life. She also has a cute cairn terrier puppy called Mitchell. But she always thought she’d be married with children by now – and instead she’s on her third dating show and preparing to freeze her eggs.
“I thought that by my age I’d have kids and be living in the countryside,” she says. “I feel very privileged to live in a generation when women are getting older before they start families and settle down. I thought I’d feel more pressure to be in that position already, but I don’t feel that like now. Nikki Sanderson just had her first baby at 42. Everyone’s on a different journey.”
To make sure she doesn’t miss out on motherhood, Gabby is following Nikki’s example and freezing her eggs to make sure her biological clock doesn’t time out. Gabby also suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can cause problems with fertility.
“I decided last year to freeze my eggs, mainly because women with PCOS can have problems with conceiving,” Gabby says. “I’m planning ahead to make sure that isn’t where I find myself.”
Last year, Kerry Katona met her current fiancé Paolo Margaglione on Celebs Go Dating. Before going on the show, Kerry’s love life included three divorces and two failed engagements, but her new romance was partly what inspired Gabby to sign up.
“I was happy to go in open-minded, thinking I could potentially meet somebody,” she says. “Some people have had success and dated after the show. Kerry’s now in a long-term relationship with her fella.”
Gabby found Celebs Go Dating very different to her experiences on Love Island and Love Island: All Stars. “On Love Island, you have to make your own decisions and go off what you think you should do,” she explains. “On Celebs Go Dating, you get the help of the agents, who are so good. I really enjoyed our sessions and I did take on board a lot of what they said. I’ve learnt a lot from them.”
Earlier this year, Gabby was joint winner of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins along with fellow Love Island star Dani Dyer and Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm. She’s proud of her achievement and now knows she can do anything she sets her mind to.
“I wanted to show that I’m strong, and that women are strong,” says Gabby. “The fact that three girls got to the end was real girl power. We definitely showed everyone that girls rule. I was so much stronger than I thought I was going to be. I thought, ‘I’m actually really resilient.’ For a 5ft 2in tiny person, I’m actually quite hard!”
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